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In Just One Second
by Silvio Freytes and Flavio Morais
(ISBN 9780980416596, RRP A$24.99hb/NZ$34.99hb, June 2009 release)

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Winner, Daniel Gil International Book Design Award

This ingenious and fascinating picture book depicts commonplace street scenes.

A baby tries to play a game, a burglar starts running down the street, a hairdresser spots on old customer, a dog catcher sneeks up on a stray dog. Some scenes are funny, some exciting and some just intriguing.

The final page shows that these events have one thing in common: they¹re all happening simultaneously. On one street. In just one second.

As well as providing a colourful and entertaining streetscape for children to explore, this striking picture book also introduces the concept of Time to kids, and encourages them to consider all the things that are happening in just one second in their own world.

Argentinian Silvio Freytes' simple story made In Just One Second a bestseller across the Spanish and Latin American world, while Brazilian Flavio Morais' distinctive illustrations won it the prestigious Daniel Gil international award for book design. This Wilkins Farago edition marks the first time it has been available in English anywhere in the world.

I Like Chocolate
by Davide Cali and Evelyn Daviddi
(ISBN 9780980416589, RRP A$24.99hb/NZ$29.99hb, March 2009 release)

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The international bestseller - published in 11 countries!

Can you remember the allure of chocolate when you were a child?

Nearly every child is focused on chocolate, and Davide Cali and Evelyn Daviddi's delicious and funny picture book exactly captures why children love it so much.

It savours its different shapes and sizes; its colours and flavours; all the different ways it can be eaten (including The Well-Mannered Nibble); and the occasions chocolate perfect for (including saying sorry to Mum for breaking her best vase).

A warm and entertaining celebration of our most guilty pleasure, I Like Chocolate also contains important messages about friendship, sharing, and eating in moderation.

Join the 'I Like Chocolate' Facebook group and share your favourite chocolate experience.

The Red Piano
by Andre Leblanc, illustrated by Barroux
(ISBN 9780980607017, RRP A$27.99hb, September 2009 release)
Published in association with Amnesty International Australia




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This stirring and beautiful picture book relates the moving and inspiring story of a gifted young girl's passion for the piano in a time of historic turmoil.

During China's Cultural Revolution (1966 - 1976), a young girl is taken from her family and sent to a far-off labour camp. Forbidden to play the piano, she nevertheless finds a way of smuggling hand-written music into the camp and sneaking away at night to practice a piano in a secret location.

Then, one night, she is caught ...

Inspired by the amazing true story of the international concert pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei, Andre Leblanc and Barroux's acclaimed picture book from France poetically relates an extraordinary story of perseverence set against a cataclystic period of history which is, to this day, still shrouded in mystery.

Kampung Boy
by Lat
(ISBN 9780980607000, RRP A$22.99pb, September 2009 release)

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'Sweet, funny, and brilliantly drawn, Kampung Boy is one of the all-time great cartoon books' - Matt Groening (The Simpsons)

Lat's Kampung Boy is a timeless favourite of millions of readers in Southeast Asia. With masterful economy worthy of Charles Schultz, Lat recounts the life of Mat, a Muslim boy growing up in rural Malaysia in the 1950s: his adventures and mischief-making, fishing trips, religious education, and work on his family's rubber plantation.

Meanwhile, the traditional way of life in his village (or kampung) is steadily disappearing, with tin mines and factory jobs increasingly overtaking the village's agricultural way of life. When Mat himself leaves for boarding school, he can only hope that his familiar kampung will still be there when he returns.

This delightful autobiographical graphic novel is hilarious and affectionate, with brilliant, super-expressive artwork that opens a window into ordinary Malay life.

Such is the affection for this book in his native Malaysia, Lat has been honoured as one of that country's national treasures, entitled to the honorary title, 'Datuk'.

The Goose Bath: Poems
by Janet Frame
(ISBN 9780980416541, RRP A$32.99pb, September 2008 release)

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'One of the great writers of our time.' San Francisco Chronicle

'Essential reading. This is a volume that alters the landscape of New Zealand poetry.' New Zealand Listener

'I have not been a fan of Janet Frame's novels, but I am engrossed in her new and posthumous collection of poetry ... Frame kept many of these poems unpublished and private during her lifetime, and some of the poems can eerily make the reader feel a trespasser. Yet the poems are numinous and mostly memorable. The book itself is beautifully presented. A pleasure to hold and read.' Dorothy Porter, The Age

Twice shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature, celebrated New Zealand writer Janet Frame (An Angel at My Table) used to keep geese, using the base of an old garden fountain as their bath. In later years the geese went but the bath was brought indoors as a receptacle into which Janet piled her poems and jottings as she reworked and developed them. Over time the goose bath overflowed with paper, including hundreds of unpublished poems. By the time Janet died in 2004 she had named her hoped-for but elusive new selection 'The Goose Bath'.

From this treasure trove was selected over a hundred poems that illustrated the shape of her life: her childhood and the subsequent difficult years in mental hospitals; her travels around the world; her life as a writer, growing older and facing illness and death. The poems reveal her love for words, for cats, for the changing seasons, the arts and for her native country. There are love poems, meditations on mortality, flashes of humour and startling imagery. And always she celebrates the power of the human imagination.

Published in Frame's native New Zealand, this book became a Premier New Zealand Bestseller and went on to win the Poetry Section of the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. It is a beautiful and thought-provoking work, a lasting legacy from one of the Southern Hemisphere's most acclaimed writers. This Wilkins Farago edition is the first Australian editon.

Piano Piano
by Davide Cali, illustrated by Eric Heliot
(ISBN 9780980416534, RRP A$24.99/NZ$29.99, August 2008 release)

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  • Special Mention - Bologna Children's Book Fair Ragazzi Awards
  • Outstanding International Book - USBBY

'Cali is nothing if not diverse in his choice of subjects to explore. He treats them with keen perception and creativity. Allied with gifted illustrators, his books are always memorable. Highly recommended.' Magpies

'The sharp text ... the pictures brim with goofy details ... it all adds up to a highly satisfying uncovering of a parent's feet of clay.' Publishers Weekly

In this funny and entertaining picture book about finding your passion, young Marcolino doesn't want to practise the piano.

'When I was your age, I played for hours,' Mum insists, but Grandfather remembers things rather differently. He helps Marcolino find the musical instrument that's right for him - and it's a real surprise!

Created by two of Europe's most acclaimed creators of books for chldren, Davide Cali and Eric Heliot (France's leading children's illustrator). For readers aged from 4 to 7.

Santa's Suit
by Davide Cali, illustrated by Eric Heliot
Paperback: ISBN 9780980416572, RRP $17.99pb/NZ$19.99pb, November 2008 release)

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  • The Christmas bestseller from France
  • From the creators of Piano Piano (Outstanding International Book - USBBY)

This hilarious, original and thoroughly modern tale of Santa Claus will delight both children and adults. Already a bestseller in France, the book tells the story of Santa, who finds he has forgotten to clean his suit ahead of his Christmas delivery round - and finds the washing machine is broken!

His dog Bobo (a canny canine who reminds us of Wallace's resourceful companion, Gromit) comes to the rescue. Armed with notes from a sewing program he's seen on TV, he starts making a new suit - out of the curtains!

Will the suit be ready in time for Christmas? Will Santa learn his lesson and fix the washing machine in time for next Christmas?

Young readers will have lots of fun finding out, in this playful comic-style book that is easy to read and packs a delightful punchline.

Davide Cali and Eric Heliot have created a picture book that not only entertains but also brings Santa up-to-date for the modern child. For readers aged from 4 to 7.

Grow Up!
How to raise an adult by being one yourself
by John S Cheetham
(ISBN 9780980416510, A$26.99 paperback/NZ$39.99, September 2008 release)

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'Practical, down-to-earth approaches to parenting that really do work' Michael Edmeades, Psychologist

From bestselling author and TV and radio psychologist John S Cheetham comes a book that will change the way you look at parenting forever. Based on 20 years' experience helping parents and kids solve a wide range of challenges, Grow Up! shows parents how they can help their kids become happy, well-adjusted young adults.

Cheetham's message is simple: you have all the skills you need - provided you remember to be an adult yourself.

His funny, refreshing approach includes case histories that provide real answers to the problems parents face every day, as well as scripts that tell you what to say when your own words fail you.

I Love Kissing You
by Davide Cali, illustrated by Serge Bloch
(ISBN 9780980416503, RRP A$29.99/NZ$34.99, February 2008 release)

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The most romantic gift book of 2008. Created by Davide Cali and Serge Bloch, the award-winning team behind The Enemy, this is a celebration of that most pleasurable and romantic human activity: the kiss. A picture book for grown-ups, I Love Kissing You relates the history of a relationship through its more memorable kisses: from the momentous first kiss to those stolen in the kitchen, on stairs or in elevators, to those in more exotic locations. Warm, funny and down-to-earth, the book features Serge Bloch's elegantly simple illustrations throughout, and is sumptiously clothbound and jacketed in a special narrow B+ format. This Wilkins Farago edition marks its first publication into English anywhere in the world.

The Enemy
by Davide Cali, illustrated by Serge Bloch
(ISBN 9780958557184, RRP A$29.99/NZ$34.99, October 2007 release)

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'Challenging the traditional notion of what a picture book is and who it is for is this stark, poignant book ... [which] boldly explores the futility of war.' The Sunday Age

'Impressive ... the award-winning team of Cali and Bloch seems set for further recognition ... Highly recommended.' Magpies

This is the year's most extraordinary illustrated book. Already a major hit in France, The Enemy is a profound, moving and poignant fable for our time about two lonely soldiers facing each other across a barren desert battlefield. Are they the only soldiers left? How can they end the war? Just who is the enemy? Created by Davide Cali and Serge Bloch, the award-winning team behind I Can't Wait (winner of France's prestigious Baobab Award, and Honour Book in the American Library Association's Batchelder Award) and I Love Kissing You. This Wilkins Farago edition marks its first publication into English anywhere in the world. For readers aged from 7 to 77.

Published in association with Amnesty International Australia, part of the global movement defending human rights and dignity. Amnesty works to demand respect for human rights and protect people facing abuse. To do this, it mobilises people, campaigns, conducts research and raises money for its work. It promotes a culture where human rights are embraced, valued and protected.

A Dad Who Measures Up
by Davide Cali, illustrated by Anna-Laura Cantone
(Paperback: ISBN 9780958557191, RRP A$16.99/NZ$19.99, July 2008 release
Hardback: ISBN 9780958557177, RRP A$26.99/NZ$29.99, August 2007 release)

'4.5 stars. Highly recommended.' - Good Reading magazine

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Featured in the Kids Reading Guide!

What makes a dad ideal? Is he strong as a wrestler, or handsome as a movie star? Is he intelligent or sporty? Or is he just good at jigsaw puzzles and have lots of hair? One little girl is about to find out, in this funny, charming and ultimately moving story of her search for a dad who can measure up to the mummy she loves. Written by the winner of France's prestigious Baobab Award, Davide Cali, one of Europe's most innovative writers for children, and illustrated by Anna-Laura Cantone, twice included in the Bologna Children's Book fair illustration competition. This Wilkins Farago edition marks its first publication into English anywhere in the world.

Waiting for Mummy
by Tae-Jun Lee & Dong-Sung Kim
(ISBN 9780958557146, RRP A$26.99/NZ$29.99, April 2006 release)

'A very successful, elegant and simply beautiful picture book ... Highly recommended.' - Magpies

On the 2008 Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge recommended reading list!

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Book of the Year in Korea, Waiting for Mummy is a deceptively simple story of patience rewarded. A child waits for his mother at a tram-stop. Trams come and go, people alight, yet her devoted son waits stoically and patiently, even as a snowstorm gathers. A new edition of a 1938 story by one of Korea's best-loved writers, Waiting for Mummy has been a publishing sensation since its re-release with Dong-Sung Kim's illustrations in late 2004. It won the major Baeksang Publishing Award and was nominated as 'Book of the year' by each of Korea's three major national newspapers. It is currently on the shortlist for Germany's major kids book prize, the 2008 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis. This Wilkins Farago edition marks its first publication into English anywhere in the world.

Back on Track (double audio CD)
by John Cheetham et al
(ISBN 9780975700204, RRP A$36.99/NZ$49.99, November 2005 release)

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Life getting on top of you? This double audio CD provides stress-reducing strategies to help relieve work-life pressures from some of Australia's leading psychologists and life coaches. Fourteen audio tracks help you refocus your mental energy and learn to relax and enjoy life again. Produced in association with the Cheetham Consulting Group, part of the proceeds from sales go to the Skyline Education Foundation.

Downloads: Cover Image (high res tif).

Why?
by Lila Prap
(ISBN 9780958557153, RRP A$16.99/NZ$16.99, paperback, March 2006 release

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On the 2008 Tasmanian Premiers Reading Challenge recommended reading list!

Why do crocodiles cry? Why are zebras striped? Why do hyenas laugh?

A hit across Europe, this informative and entertaining picture book gives both funny and factual answers and features Hans Christian Andersen Award nominee Lila Prap's acclaimed pastel drawings. For ages 4 to 7.